


Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

by cerie



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-18
Updated: 2011-06-18
Packaged: 2017-10-20 12:39:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cerie/pseuds/cerie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Episode tag for "Veritas."  Doting makes her teeth itch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

“I still think you’re insane.” The others had cleared out some time before, scurrying about to take care of things that had gone by the wayside in light of Helen’s illness and the Big Guy’s death but Will had remained for some odd reason, hovering around in spite of the fact that after the removal of the ozone beetle Helen was well on the way to being in top shape again. She’d never understand it, but she imagined it had something to do with his chosen profession. Psychiatry did lend itself to a certain nurturing nature.

“I only did what needed to be done,” Helen argued, sipping at the tea she’d been left earlier. Still warm and still palatable, but only just. She’d always been a bit particular about her tea and had been incredibly lucky to have a butler who understood the delicate line between strong and overdone. Will was passable at getting her tea correct, but Helen reasoned that he’d improve in time. After all, it’d taken the Big Guy at least six months to get the correct ratio of cream to sugar. Will had time yet to work on it.

She placed the cup back on the saucer and sighed, folding her hands across her stomach. He was still hovering and she couldn’t imagine why. Helen was no profiler; her gift was analysis of the human body, not the mind. Still, she thought herself a reasonable judge of character and of people, having been alive as long as she had, and not being able to decipher Will’s motivation behind the hovering was more than a little disconcerting. After a few long moments of just watching him as he cleared away the tea and straightened her blankets, she tilted her head and simply asked. Best way to get an answer, after all.

“Why exactly are you hovering? I’m hardly a child and I’m not so invalid that I cannot manage a few moments by myself. Surely when things have been cleared out administratively, Henry will be back to discuss his latest project with me. I’ve no illusions at being left alone for any stretch of time.” Helen watched with amusement as Will stopped straightening her blanket and dropped into a chair next to her bed, smile a touch more sheepish than it usually was.

“You know, Magnus, it’s okay to have someone take care of you occasionally. I understand that you have this crazy sense of personal responsibility, but giving up control for just a little while isn’t going to kill you. Besides, I owe you. You’ve saved my ass more than once.”

Helen paused, the quip that had been ready to slip out momentarily silenced. She hadn’t expected such a frank answer and it’d struck right to her core. She did have control issues. Having lived as long as she had, Helen had seen a great many shifts in society and upheavals of regimes but a few cardinal things never changed, chief among them the fact that if you wanted something done properly, you simply had to do it yourself. Oh, certainly, she delegated tasks to Henry, but those were usually outside her particular skill set; Henry had always been particularly handy with technology and Helen had always preferred a more anachronistic approach to life.

“I hardly think my medical skills necessitate any sort of debt on your part, Will,” Helen managed, flashing him a quick, yet uncomfortable smile. She’d never been a very good patient, nor a very gracious recipient of emotional comfort. Besides, coddling had never been something she’d accepted even when protocol of the era deemed it necessary.

“Well, no, but I’m not just talking about how good you are at stitching me up. You’re a pretty important part of my life, Magnus. Before I came here, I was in a dead end job, couldn’t sleep and I was pretty unfulfilled in a lot of areas. The Sanctuary gives me a reason to wake up in the morning and you challenge me in just about every way that counts. Being able to pay back some of that is nice, even if it does require you going off the deep end.” Will gave her another smile, this one softer, and Helen was puzzled yet again. He was answering and not answering and it was driving her mad.

“I suppose the motivation is sound,” she said finally, giving him another curious look. Honestly. He should just come out with it and explain himself, even if the answer wasn’t something she’d particularly care for. She didn’t like being seen as weak or less due to her gender and if that was his motivation she’d be disappointed, but hardly surprised. Helen had grown up in an era when women were meant to be seen and not heard, protected and cosseted and left in ivory towers. She liked to think that’d changed but she was unsurprised when misogyny reared its ugly head.

“Motivation? Magnus, come on. I can do stuff for you just because I care about you, you know. It’s not some freaky mind game.” Ah. So it was caring. Helen didn’t like to let people in; it was hard to bury friends over and over and know that you’d be around long after they were forgotten, but somehow Will had slipped in under her carefully-maintained defenses. It put him in an elite club, one with very few members that weren’t Abnormals, but it’d happened.

“I suppose. It just seems a bit much, especially when everyone else has already gone on to their day to day lives. You’re…hovering, for lack of better words. I’ve never been fond of being patronized, Will.” Will let out a harsh laugh and Helen was shocked for a moment. Had she misread him entirely? Perhaps he didn’t see it as patronizing, caring for her. She had given them all a bit of a fright.

“I think that bug you just had in your head for the last week’s messed with your perception.” Will drew closer, straightening the blankets even though they hardly needed to be adjusted. That done, he brushed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear, brushing her cheek in the process. That was…odd. Very odd.

“I care about you, Magnus. It’s okay to let people in behind all those defenses and it’s okay to admit having feelings, even if you are practically a machine. I think it’d do you some good occasionally, letting people in. You’re incredible and it’s a shame that you keep yourself walled up and protected and don’t show people anything other than your professional face. I, for one, like it when you’re a little less than professional. Maybe that’s why I’m hovering around, because for as tough as you are, you were pretty fragile last week. You fell to pieces in front of me and I care too much not to be affected by that. Maybe I shouldn’t, but there’s no point in lying about it, to you or anyone else. Is that enough motivation for you?”

Helen mulled that over, trying to make sense of it. She’d half expected him to make some grand overture of affection. God only knew how many of those she’d had in her life and she knew how to delicately defuse those situations, let a man down gently and advise him just how ill a path it’d be to pursue a relationship with her. But he hadn’t, not Will Zimmerman, and she was puzzled yet again. He clearly cared, he’d said as much, but he hadn’t gone about it in a way she’d expected. How utterly intriguing. How fascinating. How new. She’d always craved the new.

“Ah, I think your motivations are perfectly fine, Will. It’s just doting tends to make me a bit twitchy.”

Will laughed a little and kissed the corner of her mouth, lingering a little longer than just a friendly kiss would. It was an odd place for a kiss, neither sexual like a full on one would be nor entirely friendly, as a kiss to the cheek was. Will Zimmerman was just full of puzzles today.

“Then twitch, because I’m doting. Do you want fresh tea and a good book? I’m not letting you leave the bed for at least three days.”

In spite of her better judgment, Helen nodded. As much as she despised it, maybe the bed rest would do her a touch of good. After all, it’d give her the opportunity to continue analyzing the motives of her protégé and, as the last half hour had proven, it was certainly an intriguing way to pass the time.

Besides, she could hardly let him have the upper hand. Even as an invalid, she had a keen sense of competition. Perhaps that had been his motivation after all.

Perhaps.


End file.
